Sonar crew finds no damage at Gavins Point Dam

Experts with enhanced sonar gear have completed extensive sweeps of the Gavins Point Dam on the Nebraska/South Dakota border.

They were searching for damage to the structure after the summer-long flooding of the Missouri River.

Gavins Point operations manager Dave Becker says all searches came up empty.

They surveyed the spillway basin where the water comes out and the water entry points for the power plant and found no damage to any of the concrete. “Really, we came through pretty well,” Becker says.

Releases of water from the dam are now at 40,000 cubic feet per second, above normal for this time of year, but well below the record 160,000 cubic feet per second releases at the height of the summer flood.

Becker says the prolonged high water flows have had an impact on the river bed below the dam.

At Yankton, he says there was no major change but down at Ponca, Nebraska, the river fell as much as six feet. Overall, Becker says, the dam performed as it was designed during the extensive flooding.